A criminal gang busted in
Naples was said Wednesday to be part of a larger ring
responsible for 90% of the world's counterfeit euros.
The gang, part of the so-called "Napoli Group", is known to
police throughout Europe, prosecutor Giovanni Colangelo said at
a news conference to explain the investigation that led to some
56 arrests.
Charges include conspiracy, forgery of money, spending and
introduction of counterfeit money.
Described as the arch-enemy of the European Central Bank,
the Napoli Group includes some 11 criminal gangs, each
specializing in a part of a counterfeit operation that even
circulated in Germany a fake 300-euro banknote - a denomination
that doesn't exist.
Police believe the gangs, based in Italy, had organized
crime connections across Europe to help with distribution that
spread the counterfeit euros as far as Africa.
The gang apparently used nicknames for the fake currency,
including using the Italian terms for shoes, postcards and
dumplings for euro coins.
They also produced the occasional fake lottery tickets,
known as "scratches", and false stamps.
Albania, Algeria, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Morocco,
Romania, Senegal, Spain and Tunisia were the countries most
affected by the counterfeiting, police said.
Over two years of investigating, police said they seized
5,500 counterfeit banknotes and coins worth a total of about one
million euros.
Investigators said the Napoli Group had achieved "complete
control of the international market through the distribution of
significant amounts of fake money in Italy and all over the
world".
In a twist in the case, police said that Domenica Guardato,
the mother of a six-year-old child who died on June 24 after a
suspicious fall from a sixth-floor balcony, was implicated in
the counterfeit operation.
An autopsy showed the child, Fortuna, was sexually abused
before she died from the fall in Caivano, a city about 14
kilometres north of Naples.
The child's death has been under investigation as a
possible murder and Guardato has vowed to get justice for her
daughter who had been abused in the months before her death, the
autopsy showed.
Other Caivano residents were arrested Wednesday on
suspicion they distributed the counterfeit currency through
spending in supermarkets and stores in the city.
Police said their investigation, which began two years ago,
uncovered a printing operation in the Naples suburb of Arzano
and a mint to produce counterfeit euro coins near Rome in
Gallicano.
Meanwhile, prosecutors said they had not found a link
between the Napoli Group and the powerful Camorra mafia clan
that is based in the area.
Still, Italy's Anti-Mafia Directorate (DIA) was involved in
the probe because it is responsible for dealing with crimes of
conspiracy to produce and sell counterfeit currency.
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